The Souths Logan Magpies are a walking contradiction, and they’ll be waltzing down the catwalk this Sunday during their broadcasted match against the Western Clydesdales.
Their shortfalls often give me sleepless nights as the logic just doesn’t add up.
The Magpies average the most points of any team in the competition, they’re filled to the brim with Brisbane Broncos contracted players, they have the fewest missed tackles in the league and the most line breaks, yet they find themselves with three wins and five losses on the season.
The Magpies attack at its blistering best rivals any team in the competition.
It was on full display the last team these two met, as a brilliant Ezra Mam performance saw Magpies thrash the Clydesdales 66-10 a fortnight ago.
Blake Mozer’s disruption from dummy half is the perfect foil for crash ball phenom Ben Te Kura, with the hulking front rower already having scored 4 tries from 7 games.
However, the Magpies attacking prowess may have come at the cost of consistency, as the West End men have conceded first in more than half of their games, while being down at the half in 4 of their 8 matches.
The Magpies will be in unhappy territory this weekend at Toowoomba Sports Ground, having lost their previous eight games west of the diving range apart from last year’s victory.
After last year’s horror show of a season, in which the Clydesdales won just a single game, the men from the west have already doubled their 2024 total in only eight games this season.
Undefeated in their last two matches at home, the Clydesdales will be looking for Kai Duggan to continue providing consistency at Hooker, as Duggan leads the competition in all tackles made by nearly 40.
In terms of attacking spark, Kaden Buhse will be lining up at fullback, with the 20-year-old already showing signs of star talent so far this year having scored four times and assisted two tries in his eight games this season.
The Magpies will need to stay in the game from the first minute to the last this week.
They’ve allowed teams to score in clumps so far this year - with the Dolphins scoring four tries against the Magpies in 19 minutes, the Devils twice in 10 minutes and the Falcons twice in five minutes.
The Western Clydesdales have only won two games in 2025, and their last game wasn’t what they wanted against the Magpies.
The Clydesdales are coming off a bye last week, having had time to regroup and focus on their defence.
They started well against the Magpies last round scoring the first try but it took 60 minutes before they scored again.
In the meantime, the Magpies scored 10 tries.
That’s going to be the key for the Clydesdales here, they must take the Magpies down to deep water and see how they handle it.
If the Clydesdales can score two or three tries and put the Magpies under pressure, that will allow them some space to grind it out and come away with a win.
If the Magpies are allowed to run free and attack, then it will become very hard to keep the Magpies attack at bay.
Tune into 9Now, Kayo or QPlus.TV to watch this match live and free - though the only way to watch every Hostplus Cup match live and on demand is via QPlus.TV, with monthly passes starting from as little as $2.49 a week.
